Crop Shop: A Tale of Two Squirrels

Submitted for your approval, two crops from one image of a squirrel. He is not a particularly sinister squirrel (well in one image he is if we take a literal archaic definition of Sinister: on the left side; left)

The Squirrel is heavily side-lit with the sun coming at about a 45° degree angle-camera left. This causes the squirrel to be lit on his right and shadowed upon his left. I created two equivalent crops of this image. In the first image I placed the squirrel on the right rule of thirds. In the second crop, I placed him on the left rule of thirds. Given that background is pretty much a wash in this compositional exercise, what does the crop choice do to your image?

The top image has the light side of the squirrel inward, toward the center of the frame. The bottom image has the light side of the squirrel outward, toward the near edge of the frame. Which crop feels more natural to you? I can tell you I like the top crop a lot better than the bottom crop. The bottom squirrel appears crowded with the edge while the top squirrel feels comfortable in space. In fact, "space” is the key word here.

In the Rule of Space, we speak of space applying to the direction in which an entity is facing or ‘looking’. What is going on here? The squirrel is facing dead-on straight at us but the shadow/light of the figure is creating a de facto directional facing. The light side is perceived visually as the front and the shadow side is the back, if you will. This illusion and sensibility create a situation where our perception of the top squirrel is that he is facing into the frame and the bottom squirrel is facing out of the frame. The difference in feel is subtle to be sure but palpable.

Often, a face isn’t the sole clue as to in which direction an entity is facing or perceived to be facing. Take this into consideration as you frame and later crop your images to keep a more pleasing composition.

For me, I am drawn to the top photo (squirrel on right) not due to the lighting, but because of the squirrel’s visible eye (aren’t most of us drawn to a subject’s eyes first?)… The squirrel’s eye could be looking towards the open space to the left making ME want to look that way, too. That adds to the story of the photo (danger? food? a good-looking squirrel 🙂 The photo cropped with the squirrel on the left leaves me feeling “blocked” from knowing what’s going on.

I don’t love either of them. I prefer the top photo for the same reason as petershelly — the lit side is towards the inside. But the rest of the composition favors the bottom photo — the entire shadow of the squirrel is visible, and the highlight in the background adds some balance, where the top photo is very unbalanced in the upper half. If only the camera position could have been moved to camera right…

I actually prefer the bottom crop. The body position of the squirrel (and the lighting) make the squirrel look like it is leaning to the left edge of the frame. When combined with the shadow angling to its lower right, this gives the image a strong diagonal line that makes it more dynamic to me.

I agree that the shapes of the shadows and light have to be considered here. Mike’s right about how the shadow of the squirrel leads us back into the frame on the bottom photo. But this fights against the lit side of the squirrel’s face which causes us to want to look in the opposite direction of the shadow. Which gets us to a photo where there is tension that’s pulling us in two different directions. That could be a dynamic feeling in some photos, but in this one it’s a dissonant feeling and so “I don’t love either one” seems pretty on target.
Interesting that in the final follow-up crop, the tree branch angling to the left works to balance the strong squirrel’s shadow moving to the right. So now the dissonance is resolved and balance restored. Better photo for sure.

Coming late to the party – my preference is for the bottom image. Not sure if it’s because as westerners we are more likely to look at something from left to right rather than the other way around. And I think I would have preferred if the squirrel was located more on the lower left Rule of Thirds power spot.

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